(Flash!)

The blinding flash of light, which for a moment had consumed everything, vanished as quickly as it had appeared, revealing what was in the place where Mireya had been.

"What the hell?!"

At that image, those words escaped Leo's mouth, but he could barely hear them over the metallic roar that echoed in the air. His mind felt like an overloaded circuit, trying to process an avalanche of information that made no sense. Hadn't he been dragged into what was supposed to be a friendly outing that, somehow, turned into a "date"? Hadn't it been with a girl who seemed to be Mireya, yet at the same time not, whom he called Melioris?

"How did we get to this...?"

The memory of the amusement park from hell returned to him. The experience had been fun for her, but painful for him, causing him traumas in the process.

"It was a horrible experience."

While there, he had felt that he was being constantly watched, a feeling of being a cornered animal that could not escape.

"Or rather, thinking about it calmly, it might have been Mireya's 'family'!"

Remembering the pangs of bloodlust he perceived on multiple occasions, Leo came to suspect that it was Mireya's "family," since in their brief and uncomfortable chats via messages, Mireya had complained about the overprotection and constant confinement by his "family members."

"Online operating systems."

".........."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

As Leo was dragged back to reality by that distorted mechanical sound, he used that brief moment of silence to remember, as his eyes fixed on the robotic figure that stood where Mireya had once been.

(Clank, clank)

The sound of the gears was a constant hum, and the amber glow of its visor gave it a sinister appearance.

"I hope you're ready."

"¿?!"

Panic seized Leo when, in the midst of the silence, the mechanical armor moved. The visor of its helmet shone brightly, and from within, an artificially modified voice resonated.

"Deploy armament!"

(CLACK-CLACK-CLACK!)

After uttering those words, the hum of the mechanical armor's gears reached a climax.

"¿?!"

Paralyzed, Leo watched as hundreds of hatches and compartments opened in unison from the armor's back, shoulders, and legs, while a terrifying idea of what was about to happen crossed his mind.

(WHIRRRRRRR!)

At that moment, a multitude of cannons, turrets, and missile launchers emerged, like a swarm of metallic insects, pointing at the monstrous figures that had appeared after his arrival in this place.

"Wait, I'm still...!"

"Fire!!"

(BOOOOOM! CRASH! BOOOOOM!)

"¿?!"

Leo tried to scream, but his voice was lost in the din, realizing with a blood-chilling terror a desperate reality: Mireya didn't see him.

"Damn it!"

He had been completely forgotten. He was not an ally in this war; he was an obstacle, as dispensable as the monsters standing in his way.

(BOOOOOM! BOOOM! CRASH!)

The armor unleashed a rain of projectiles and lasers, and each explosion resonated with the fury of an artillery storm.

(ra-ta-ta-ta-ta!!)

(BOOM! CRUNCH! KABOOOOOOOOM!!)

"!!"

The bursts of bullets buzzed centimeters from his head. The temple's marble, a seemingly indestructible structure, exploded into pieces.

"This is insane!!"

Leo didn't think, he simply launched himself into a run, desperately searching for a place to hide. He threw himself behind what was left of a marble wall. The dust and rubble covered him, but he stayed crouched, his hands trembling while his screams of panic were drowned out by the cacophony of death to the rhythm of the bullets.

(BOOOM! BOOOM!)

Colorful explosions and bursts of energy consumed the dimension, illuminating it as if it were daytime. The sanctuary trembled from the impact. The battlefield had opened and, with that, the majestic marble temple that once stood imposing was now pulverizing in a storm of rubble. The walls, sculpted with intricate details, cracked and disintegrated, their fragments flying through the air like dust.

(RUMBLE! THUD!)

The columns, which once supported the roof, collapsed with a crash, crushing the pillars below.

(ra-ta-ta-ta-ta!!)

(BOOOM! BOOOM!)

The stone statues, with their almost human forms, lost their features as they disintegrated under the incessant rain of energy. The air became thick and hot, charged with the smell of burnt stone and ozone. The very ground of the pocket dimension trembled, opening in fissures that swallowed the temple fragments and emitted an amber glow.

(CRACK! BAANG! TSSSHH!)

The sound of destruction was a constant roar that pierced the ears, the symphony of a technological war being waged before Leo's eyes.

"What's happening now...?"

But at that moment, Leo noticed how the air, already full of dust and ozone, began to glow with an intense red tone, as if space itself were burning in fury.

(ra-ta-ta!! ra-ta-ta-ta!!)

In the midst of that hellish glow, the creatures that once seemed like data figures began their grotesque mutation. Their bodies twisted and fractured. Broken marble parts and twisted roots of the temple fused with their forms, creating inhuman armors with limbs that looked more like tentacles than arms. From their deformed bodies emerged exposed wires and circuits that pulsed with a reddish energy, while their faces melted into a featureless mass from which corrupt code flowed. With each impact they received, their bodies reconstructed themselves, becoming even more monstrous, their silhouettes larger and more terrifying.

"404_Soul_Not_Found..."

"Loop_Host_Search_Connection_Fail..."

"!!Access_Denied...!!"

As they advanced, their voices joined the chaos, their screams a distorted echo of meaningless words.

"This is out of control..."

That was all Leo could utter upon hearing those cries of frustration and agony that sounded like an echo of desperation.

"Look out!"

However, he didn't have time to think too much, as Leo's panic shot up upon seeing that those out-of-control monsters, despite the bullet impacts, continued their charge.

"....."

(Swoosh!)

In response to their approach, the mechanical armor jumped, propelling itself into the air, with its laser cannons pointing downward to dodge the monsters' charge.

(WHIRRRRRRR!)

"A jump?! No, wait a second..."

The unexpected action surprised Leo before he understood what was about to happen.

"I must take cover!!"

And as if responding to those words, from the sky, the mechanical armor aimed...

(TATATATATATA! PUM! BOOOM! PSSSCCCCHHH!)

... and unleashed a rain of fire, lasers, bullets, and missiles.

(BUM! BUM! BUM!)

"I'm going to live!!"

And in that way, from above, an incessant rain of death was unleashed in which the roar of the war consumed the entire place, drowning out Leo's screams of terror as he hid among the rubble.

"Haa... Fuff... It seems to have stopped..."

At that instant, Leo, crouched among the rubble, let out a sigh of relief until...

(CRASH!)

"¿?!"

... He raised his head upon noticing something unusual. He saw how a tangle of vines rose into the air with astonishing force, striking the mechanical armor, knocking it down and sending it flying against a wall.

"!!"

Leo saw how the metallic structure crashed with a deafening blow and was immobilized, trapped by the same vines that had struck it. The horde of disfigured monsters took advantage of the opportunity, approaching and lunging at the fallen machine to attack mercilessly.

"I must help!!"

"None."

After those words, the core in the center of the suit opened, revealing a blinding glow.

(KAAAA-BOOOM!)

A deafening explosion shook the pocket dimension, erasing everything around it. The marble, the vines, the monsters, and even the surprised screams of Leo, who was launched into the air by the shockwave.

"Aaaargh!!"

Leo's body flew through the air, out of control, spinning like a rag doll. He couldn't see anything through the dense cloud of smoke and rubble, and the roar of the explosion was the only thing he heard. He felt panic invading him, a mixture of terror and nausea that, to his misfortune, was already becoming familiar.

"... Haa... Haa... Haa... Where... did I land...?"

When the momentum stopped, Leo felt himself falling. His hands and feet scraped the rough surface, and the sound of stones falling into the void made him realize the danger.

"!!"

He had fallen to the edge of one of the terrestrial fissures created by the destructive rain of death.

"Damn it, as if this is going to beat me!"

Clinging to his consciousness, his hands desperately grabbed onto nearby rubble to avoid falling into the abyss while he cursed his situation, filled with irritation.

"Ugh..."

Clinging to the rubble to avoid falling into the abyss, Leo felt the urgency of his situation. With desperate strength, his fingers clung to a slab of marble that wobbled. Dust and sand spilled between his fingers, slippery and precarious.

"Aj, aj"

His throat burned as he slowly pulled himself up. The fall was long, unending, and the darkness of the fissure called to him.

"Tch...!"

With trembling knees, he found a ledge and used it for support to propel himself upward. The temple wall, once smooth, was now full of protrusions and rubble, as if a monster had chewed and spit it out. Climbing had become possible, but no less terrifying.

"Not yet!"

Stones and pieces of marble fell under his weight, echoing in the darkness of the fissure as he pulled himself up, inch by inch. His blood pounded in his ears, adrenaline was the only thing keeping him moving. As he struggled, he noticed a faint, comforting light shining from above, a light so soft that it contrasted with the chaos of the explosions.

A beacon of hope.

"I made it...!"

When he finally crawled over the edge and collapsed onto the flat surface, he lifted his head. The smoke was dissipating and, in the midst of the rubble, a figure was rising.

"....."

It was a vision as beautiful as it was surreal, a mixture of the divine and the mechanical. It was Mireya, but once again, it was different.

"Well... What name will we need?"

He wore a fluffy black and white dress that covered his body, with engraved circuits that emitted a soft glow. His gloves and boots were of polished bronze. His hair, now with bronze streaks, fluttered softly. One eye was a pure white iris, while the other was a coppery color, a juxtaposition of innocence and machine. On his back, mechanical bronze wings extended, sounding like gears as they moved.

That figure floated in front of the deformed monsters. With a hand, a liquid metal appendage came out of its fingertip and was inserted into one of the creatures. Instead of destroying it, the monster let out a moan. With each pulse of energy, its corrupted body was repaired, the vines retracted, and the broken wires joined together.

"Is it... repairing...?"

Leo watched the scene, his mind unable to comprehend what he saw. His voice was a broken whisper.

"{emotional resonance: convergence}"

"¿?!"

At that moment, those words pulled Leo out of the scene's trance as he witnessed a bright and warm energy emanate from it, covering the temple and the monsters with a halo of light. Leo, with his eyes full of awe, watched as the chaos of destruction turned into a work of art. The fissures in the marble were sealed, the cracks closed, and the debris floating in the air returned to its original places, joining piece by piece to reconstruct the walls, columns, and statues. The structure rose as if time had been reversed, and the holes in the earth were filled.

"....."

The ground was covered with green grass, the vines and roots slipped from the creatures and returned to the earth, and the darkness of the starless sky vanished, replaced by a clear, blue sky with soft clouds. The air became fresh, pure, and filled with the fragrance of damp earth. A small lake of crystalline water formed in the center of the sanctuary, its waters shining under the light. And from the ground of the newly formed forest, small straw dolls began to emerge.

"I can't believe it..."

However, while the temple was being restored and Leo watched the scene, moved, he didn't notice what was happening under his feet.

"Huh...?"

A hole opened, the same one from which the straw dolls had emerged.

"Is this a joke?!"

Leo, still with his gaze fixed on the dreamlike landscape, felt the ground disappear beneath him, falling awkwardly into the hole, headed for the most illogical place he had ever known....